Method of receiving electrical impluses.



No. 773,171. PATENTED 0GT.25, 1904..

- D. W. TROY.

METHOD OF RBGBIVING ELECTRICAL IMPULSBS.

AIPLIOATION FILED APR. 8, 1904.

N0 MODEL.

1/9 12-11 as a a. Y

W M W- @rha/M/M. M M 71011 UNITED STATES Patented October 25, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

. DANIEL l/VATTS TROY, OF NEWV YORK, N. Y.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 773,171, dated October25, 1904.

Application filed April 8, 1904. Serial No. 202,263- (No model.)

To (LZZ whom itmay concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL WATTS TROY, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, (andhaving a post-office address at 32 Broadway, in said city,) haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of ReceivingElectrical Impulses, describedand claimed in the followingspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

forming a part hereof.

My invention relates primarily'to apparatus and methods of wireless orspace telegraphy, though the method of receiving else-- an observableindication at the receiving-station.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a type of apparatus showing the broadapplication of the method; Fig. 2, the vacuum-tube used therein; Fig. 3,a modification of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, while Fig. 4 is arecord-strip upon which indications may be recorded photographically.

The essential difference between this method and others used in therelated arts is that the indicating member instead of beingacurrentbearing wire or coil of wire or movable magnet or the like is nota body having mass, and consequently inertia, but is the discharge of anelectrical current, preferably the discharge of the secondary of aninduction-coil through a moderate vacuum. The discharge itself isdisplaced in this method and not a wire or other conductor conveying acurrent. Thus the energy required to give an indication is merely thatnecessary to displace the discharge to an observable extent, and theadditional energy which would be required to displace a conductorcarrying the discharge is not needed. The discharge can be so arrangedthat its displacement will interpose as small an additional resistanceas may be desirable, leaving it a very minute tendency to return to itsnormal path of least resistance. .The-

method is thus capable of extreme delicacy in operation, and hence ofextreme sensitiveness.

' In Fig. 1, tis avacuum-tube, the upper electrode of which, it, isshown in full lines, (the glass assumed to be transparent for the sakeof clearness.)

i Fig. 2 shows a side elevation of the tube 2? with the electrode/L hand the lower electrode h.

m and m are permanent magnets forming parts of a magnetic circuitembracing a softiron wheel w, the air-gaps between 20 and the respectivemagnets, and an air-gap through a portion of the tube 6, between thepoles m and m. The vacuum-tube is energized by a local circuit Z) Z) I)b, embracing the secondary of a transformer (as an induction-coil) to.The particular means of causing the discharge topass between theelectrodes of the vacuumtube shown is not of course an essential. Anyelectrical discharge, as that of a Holtz or l/Vimhurst machine, might beused or any other source of energy capable of producing the vacuumdischarge. 3

y 3 y is a vertical receiving-conductor; a a, a a a a circuit ininductive relation with the vertical at 1 and a and having a windingembracing but not in contact with the wheel w at a".

A suitable motor of any convenient type is indicated at gr, by means ofwhich the wheel w may be uniformly revolved at a suitable speed. A lensat in serves to project the image of the discharge on a more or lessdistant screen at s. y" is the ground of the receiver system.

Assuming no received impulses in the ver' of the field through the tubei will be less than with the wheel w stationary. The tube 6 can then beso adjusted that the repulsion of the discharge by the lines of forcethrough the tube will be practically m'l. If now the field bestrengthened, the discharge between it and b will be deflected away fromthe magnetic system and take up a position as shown roughly in thedotted line inclined to the right in Fig. 2, the vertical dotted linerepresenting the normal position of the discharge. It is well known,however, that the passage around a magnetic body of electricaldischarges of high frequency has the effect of decreasing the lag. Hencewhen impulses are received by the vertical the induced highfrequencyimpulses in the coil o act so as to reduce the lag of w and cause adirect increase in the magnetic lield between m and 222/. As anyincreaseor decrease of the magnetic strength will cause a consequent movement ofthe discharge, it is obvious that the image of the discharge upon thescreen will be displaced upon the receipt in the vertical ofhighfrequency waves. If the image of the discharge be screened so thatmerely the upper portion is projected upon the distant screen 8, theimage (or that portion of it not screened) may be allowed to fall upon astrip of photographic paper or film traveling in a direction norm-altothe path of displacementof the image of the discharge and would thusrecord the movements of the image, which in such case would be merely aspot of light. Such a record is shown in Fig. 4, where s is the screenor strip of photographically-prepared paper; a: 11?, the record withdisplacements recorded at .r and m. This method of recordingdisplacements of a spot of light is too Well known to need furtherdescription.

The apparatus shown in Fig. 3 is analogous in operation to that shown inFigs. 1 and 2. The magnet is shown at 12. n a, the wheel to beingjournaled in the pole 12.. gr is the indicated motor. The wheel isrevolved coun ter-clockwise, and hence there is a tendency for the linesof force across the air-gap to take a position away from the center ofthe vacuum-tube, as shown in the broken line connecting the pole n andthe wheel w. Upon any increase in magnetic strength the average path ofthe lines of force will be more than that shown in the dotted lineconnecting the poles. The arrangement of the liiglrfrequency coil a(shown with its leads (4 and a) is similar to that shown in Fig. 1.

It is obvious that this method is notconlined to the apparatus herei nshown, as various modifications may be had, the principle remaining thesame. The magnetic field is herein shown as indirectly afiected throughthe received impulses; but it follows that a direct action upon themagnetic strength would accomplish similar results, the means shownbeing more efiicient at the high frequency used in wireless telegraphy.Thisrnethod contemplates any displacement of an electrical discharge invacuum as a means of indicating the reception of electrical impulses,and it is obvious that there is a very wide application of apparatus foruse with this method. It is obvious also that it is not necessary toenergize the coil a by induction. It may be a part of thereceiving-conductor. It is not intended to limit the type ofreceiving-conductor to an aperiodic conductor. It may or may not beelectrically syntonized, as desired. This invention looks merely to themethod of indication and not to the manner in which the energy isreceived, and it is obvious that the receiving-conductor system may beof any type desired.

As far as I am informed the method herein shown is entirely novel withme, and the displacement of an electric discharge in vacuum, eitherelectromagnetically, as'shown in the apparatus represented in thedrawings, or electrostatically, has never been utilized in receptiveapparatus.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. The method ofreceiving electrical impulses consisting in displacing electrical discharges in vacuum by means of the energy of received impulses,substantially as set forth.

2. The method herein set forth, consisting in displacing the path of anelectrical discharge by the energy of received impulses, substantiallyas set forth.

3. The method herein set forth, consisting in causing a displacement ofan electrical discharge by the received energy of electrical impulses,substantially as set forth.

4. The method herein set forth, consisting in causing an electromagneticdisplacement of an electrical discharge by means of the energy ofreceived impulses, substantially as set forth.

5. The method herein set forth, consisting in causing indirectly fromthe energy of received electrical impulses a displacement of anelectrical discharge in vacuum, substantially as set forth.

6. The method herein set forth, consisting in utilizing the displacementof an electrical discharge in vacuum to indicate the presence ofreceived electrical impulses, substantially as set forth.

7. The methed herein set forth, consisting in utilizing the displacementof an electrical discharge in vacuum to indicate the presence ofreceived electrical impulses in wireless telegraphy, substantially asset forth.

8. The method herein set forth, consisting in utilizing the displacementof an electrical discharge in vacuum in wireless transmission of energyto indicate the presence of received electrical impulses, substantiallyas set forth.

9. The method herein set forth consisting in displacing the path of anelectrical disved charge in vacuum by the energy of recei impulses,substantially as set forth.

10. The method herein set forth, consisting in deflecting the path of anelectrical discharge in vacuum by the energy of received impulses,substantially as set forth.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand, this 6th day of April,1904; at New York, IO

DANIEL WATTS TROY.

Witnesses:

LAWRENCE V. MULEY, EDWARD S. HULL.

